Are you struggling to come up with meaningful holiday gifts for your loved ones? Consider the gift of heritage!For many of us, the holidays mean family time. We gather together to celebrate lasting traditions and create new ones, drawing closer to the ones we love and strengthening ties with them.Coming up with meaningful gift ideas for our loved ones, however, is a common struggle. What does she like? What would make him happy?Family history projects make unique, personal, and … [Read more...]
Where IS That Record? Clues for Tracing Irish Ancestry
Those who have been involved in tracing their Irish ancestry are aware of the challenge of record loss during the fire at the Four Courts Building in 1922. The good news is that there are still many Irish records which survived. The challenge is to locate them! Depending on the type of record, they were kept—and indexed—using different geographical divisions. It is vital to know specifically where the ancestral family was from in order to locate them in documents of interest.Finding Irish … [Read more...]
Five Steps for Finding that Hard-to-Find Irish Ancestor
Researching Irish ancestry can be notoriously difficult. One of our genealogists shares her expert tips to trace your elusive Irish ancestors.*Case study shared with client permission.A client was looking to trace the ancestry of her Irish great-grandmother, Eliza Kennedy. Eliza was the wife of Thomas Morgan and they had several children, among them the client’s grandfather, Frank. Not much was known about Eliza; an aunt claimed that Eliza was from Cork and told stories about Eliza … [Read more...]
Using Poor Law Records to Find Your Irish Ancestors
Those of us with Irish ancestors know that many of them left Ireland because of the crushing poverty caused by the high rents imposed by absentee landlords, the Great Famine, and a high birth rate among a predominantly Roman Catholic population. While we can’t help but feel sorrow for their circumstances, the very reason those ancestors left Ireland can help us learn more about their lives before their immigration. Two sets of Dublin-based records - Deserted Children Dublin and Dublin Workhouses … [Read more...]
Four Historical and Geographical Tips to Help You Trace Your Irish Ancestors
Irish research can be difficult. Although the island is small--about the same size as the state of Indiana--its violent history and many divisions makes research complicated. In addition, many United States records simply report that our ancestors were from Ireland with no indication of the county of their birth. However, knowing a little bit about the history and geography can provide the necessary clues. Here are four tips that can help you trace your Irish ancestors from the United States … [Read more...]
Researching Irish Ancestry
March and St. Patrick's Day trigger a flurry of Irish genealogical activity every year. It's a great time to focus on those lines that have Irish ancestry!MyHeritage.com is offering free access to part of their Irish records collection this weekend (through 17 March2014). Ancestry.com has some information about new additions to their Irish collections as well as a discussion about Irish DNA. If you've already begun writing your Irish story, FamilySearch.org has a great place to add your … [Read more...]
Getting Your Irish Ancestor Across the Ocean
Finding an Irish immigrant’s area of origin can be challenging, but there are several Irish, U.S., and Canadian records that may give you this information. This article will discuss civil registration, immigration, church, vital, and cemetery records and how these records can assist you in finding your ancestor’s place of origin.Civil Registration If your ancestor was born or married in Ireland after the mid-1800s, you may be able to locate him or her in Irish Civil Registration indexes. Civil … [Read more...]
